Hitman 2

# Hitman 2 with Intel Core i7-14700F + AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT

This combination lands in the 64th percentile of tested configurations for Hitman 2 (rank 2357 out of 3711 combos), with measured results showing a clear pattern: the AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT becomes the limiting factor as resolution climbs, while the Intel Core i7-14700F provides ample headroom even at 1080p. The data indicates a pairing that delivers smooth 1080p play at Medium settings (114 FPS average) but struggles to maintain playable frame rates at 4K Ultra (22 FPS average), making resolution and settings selection critical for the intended display.

FAQ

Q: What is the best resolution for this combo in Hitman 2?

A: At 1920x1080, the combo achieves 86 FPS on High and 152 FPS on Low, both comfortably playable. At 2560x1440, High settings drop to 55 FPS, while 3840x2160 High yields only 29 FPS. The data shows 1080p as the only resolution where all settings tiers remain playable.

Q: How does the RX 7600 XT compare to its nearest GPU rivals in overall benchmarks?

A: The RX 7600 XT's average benchmark score of 17083 places it 0.3% above the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 (17037) and 0.4% above the AMD Radeon HD 7970M (17019), while sitting 0.7% behind the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 (17208). It ranks in the 60th percentile of all GPUs.

Q: What is the CPU's benchmark standing relative to its closest competitors?

A: The Core i7-14700F's average benchmark score of 53620 is 0.2% behind the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701), 0.3% ahead of the Intel Xeon Phi 7290 (53469), 0.6% ahead of the AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (53288), and 0.8% ahead of the AMD EPYC 7313P (53206). It sits in the 91st percentile of all CPUs.

Q: Does the Core i7-14700F bottleneck the RX 7600 XT in this game?

A: No. The CPU's Cinebench R23 multi-core score of 35122 and single-core score of 4958 indicate substantial processing power. The FPS drop from 152 at 1080p Low to 52 at 4K Low (a 66% reduction) aligns with GPU-bound scaling, not CPU limitation.

Q: Which settings tier provides the best measured experience at 1440p?

A: Medium settings at 2560x1440 deliver 73 FPS average with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS, making it the only 1440p tier that maintains an average above 60 FPS. High drops to 55 FPS, and Ultra falls to 41 FPS.

Q: How does the GPU perform in synthetic benchmarks relative to its gaming results?

A: The RX 7600 XT scores 17132 in Passmark G3D, 167 in Passmark DirectX 11, and 65 in Passmark DirectX 12. Its 3DMark Steel Nomad DX12 score is 2348, with Geekbench OpenCL at 92426 and Vulkan at 48366, showing a GPU with moderate DirectX 12 capability that aligns with the 4K performance ceiling observed.

GPU Role

The AMD Radeon RX 7600 XT carries 16 GB of GDDR6 memory on a 128-bit bus, yielding 288.0 GB/s of bandwidth. Its base clock of 1980 MHz boosts to 2755 MHz, with a game clock of 2470 MHz. The memory operates at 2250 MHz (18 Gbps effective). These specifications position the GPU as a 1080p-to-1440p performer, which the Hitman 2 measurements confirm.

At 1920x1080, the GPU delivers 152 FPS average on Low, 114 FPS on Medium, 86 FPS on High, and 63 FPS on Ultra. The progression from Low to Ultra shows a 58% performance drop, indicating the GPU's shading units (2048), texture units (128), and render output units (64) are increasingly taxed as visual complexity rises. The 22.57 TFLOPS FP32 compute rate provides the raw throughput for 1080p Ultra, but the 176.3 GPixel/s pixel rate and 352.6 GTexel/s texture rate become limiting at higher resolutions.

At 3840x2160, the same settings produce 52 FPS (Low), 39 FPS (Medium), 29 FPS (High), and 22 FPS (Ultra). The 16 GB VRAM is not the constraint here — even 4K Ultra in a 2018 title fits within that capacity — but the 128-bit memory bus and 288.0 GB/s bandwidth struggle to feed the 64 ROPs at 4K pixel counts. The GPU's 60th percentile ranking among all GPUs and its near-parity with the RTX 3070 in average score (17083 vs 17208, a 0.7% gap) suggest it punches near its weight class, but Hitman 2's 4K demands exceed that class.

The RX 7600 XT's DirectX 12 Ultimate support (12_2) and Vulkan 1.4 API compatibility mean the game can leverage modern rendering paths, yet the Passmark DirectX 12 score of 65 (versus 167 for DirectX 11) hints that DX12 workloads may not be this GPU's strongest suit. In a stealth title like Hitman 2, where draw calls and shadow computations matter, the GPU's 32 ray accelerators are present but the game's 2018 engine likely does not utilize them heavily, leaving the rasterization pipeline as the primary workload.

Resolution Scaling

The measured FPS data reveals a steep resolution scaling curve that clearly identifies the GPU as the bottleneck. Moving from 1920x1080 to 2560x1440 at High settings, average FPS drops from 86 to 55, a 36% reduction. From 1440p to 3840x2160 at High, the drop is from 55 to 29 FPS, another 47% reduction. The cumulative effect from 1080p High to 4K High is a 66% FPS loss (86 to 29).

Low settings show the same pattern with higher absolute numbers: 152 FPS at 1080p, 97 FPS at 1440p, and 52 FPS at 4K. The percentage drops are 36% (1080p to 1440p) and 46% (1440p to 4K), nearly identical to the High settings scaling. This consistency indicates that resolution scaling is resolution-bound, not settings-bound — the GPU's pixel throughput limits performance regardless of visual complexity.

Medium settings exhibit the smallest relative drop between 1080p and 1440p: 114 to 73 FPS, a 36% decline. From 1440p to 4K, the drop is 73 to 39 FPS, a 47% decline. The minimum FPS at Medium also scales predictably: 97 at 1080p, 62 at 1440p, and 33 at 4K. The maximum FPS follows suit: 131 at 1080p, 84 at 1440p, and 45 at 4K.

Ultra settings compress the range: 63 FPS at 1080p, 41 FPS at 1440p, and 22 FPS at 4K. The 1080p-to-1440p drop is 35%, and the 1440p-to-4K drop is 46%. At 4K Ultra, the 22 FPS average falls below playable thresholds for a stealth game requiring precision timing. The consistency of these percentage drops across all settings tiers — roughly 36% and 46% respectively — points to a GPU whose 288.0 GB/s bandwidth and 176.3 GPixel/s fill rate are the binding constraints at higher resolutions, not the CPU or game engine.

Settings Recommendations

For 1920x1080, the measured data shows Medium settings (114 FPS average) as the sweet spot, offering more than double the frame rate of Ultra (63 FPS) while maintaining a minimum of 97 FPS. High settings at 86 FPS are also viable, but the 28 FPS gap between High and Medium suggests diminishing returns from the additional visual fidelity. Ultra at 63 FPS is playable but provides no measured advantage in the data beyond the settings label itself.

At 2560x1440, Medium settings (73 FPS average, 62 FPS minimum) are the only tier that keeps average FPS above 60. High drops to 55 FPS, which may still be acceptable for a stealth game but introduces more frame pacing risk. Low at 97 FPS is smooth but sacrifices too much visual detail for a game where environmental observation matters. Ultra at 41 FPS is not recommended.

For 3840x2160, no settings tier achieves 60 FPS. Low yields 52 FPS, Medium 39 FPS, High 29 FPS, and Ultra 22 FPS. If 4K is mandatory, Low is the only playable option, but the data suggests that 1440p Medium provides a better experience than 4K Low, as the former offers 73 FPS with a 62 FPS minimum versus the latter's 52 FPS average with no recorded minimum.

The best overall experience per the measured rows is 1080p Medium or 1440p Medium, depending on display preference. The 114 FPS at 1080p Medium and 73 FPS at 1440p Medium both provide headroom above 60 FPS, with the 1440p option offering higher pixel density at the cost of 41 FPS. For users prioritizing smoothness, 1080p Medium is the data-backed choice; for visual clarity, 1440p Medium is the strongest measured option.

Measured FPS Breakdown

At 1920x1080, the full settings ladder was measured. Low settings produce 152 FPS average. Medium settings yield 114 FPS average, with a minimum of 97 FPS and maximum of 131 FPS. High settings deliver 86 FPS average. Ultra settings drop to 63 FPS average. The spread from Low to Ultra is 89 FPS, showing the GPU's capacity at this resolution.

At 2560x1440, Low settings average 97 FPS. Medium settings average 73 FPS, with a minimum of 62 FPS and maximum of 84 FPS. High settings average 55 FPS. Ultra settings average 41 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread narrows to 56 FPS, indicating the GPU has less headroom to differentiate settings at this pixel count.

At 3840x2160, Low settings average 52 FPS. Medium settings average 39 FPS, with a minimum of 33 FPS and maximum of 45 FPS. High settings average 29 FPS. Ultra settings average 22 FPS. The Low-to-Ultra spread compresses to 30 FPS, revealing that the GPU is saturated — even the lowest settings cannot fully escape the resolution penalty.

The Medium settings row is the only tier with complete min/max data at all three resolutions. At 1080p, the 97-131 FPS range shows consistent frame delivery. At 1440p, the 62-84 FPS range maintains a minimum above 60. At 4K, the 33-45 FPS range dips below 30 FPS on the low end, which would cause noticeable stutter in stealth gameplay. The pattern across resolutions confirms that 1440p Medium is the highest resolution/settings combination where the minimum FPS stays above 60.

CPU Role

The Intel Core i7-14700F provides 20 cores and 28 threads, with a base clock of 2.10 GHz and boost clock of 5.40 GHz. Its Raptor Lake architecture on a 10 nm process includes 33 MB of shared L3 cache, 2 MB L2 per core, and 80 KB L1 per core. The CPU's benchmark results show exceptional multi-threaded capability: Cinebench R23 multi-core scores 35122, while single-core scores 4958. Geekbench multi-core reaches 19620, and single-core 2429.

In Hitman 2, the CPU's role is to feed the GPU with draw calls, manage AI routines, and handle physics calculations. The game's 2018 release date means it was designed for far less powerful CPUs, so the i7-14700F's 28 threads are largely underutilized. The measured FPS data supports this: at 1080p Low, where GPU load is lightest, the combo reaches 152 FPS — a frame rate that would expose CPU bottlenecks if they existed. The fact that 4K Low still achieves 52 FPS, a 66% drop from 1080p Low, aligns with the GPU's resolution scaling rather than any CPU limitation.

The CPU's Passmark multi-thread score of 41317 and integer math score of 155808 indicate strong general processing power, but the single-thread performance (Passmark single-thread 4257, Cinebench R23 single-core 4958) is what matters most for a game like Hitman 2, which relies heavily on a few primary threads for game logic. The 5.40 GHz boost clock ensures these threads run at maximum speed, and the 33 MB L3 cache reduces memory latency for frequently accessed game data.

Comparing to its nearest rivals, the i7-14700F's average benchmark score of 53620 is nearly identical to the Intel Xeon 6505P (53701, 0.2% behind) and AMD Ryzen 9 7900X (53288, 0.6% ahead). The AMD Ryzen 9 7900X is a comparable gaming CPU, and the i7-14700F edges it out in average score while offering 20 cores versus the Ryzen's different configuration. This parity suggests the i7-14700F is not leaving performance on the table in CPU-bound scenarios, but in Hitman 2, the GPU is the clear limiter.

The CPU's 91st percentile ranking among all CPUs places it well above the GPU's 60th percentile ranking, confirming a balanced pairing where the GPU is the performance ceiling. The CPU supports DDR4 and DDR5 memory, with dual-channel configuration, and its 65 W TDP indicates efficient operation. For Hitman 2 specifically, the i7-14700F's contribution is to consistently deliver high single-thread performance (Cinebench R15 single-core 499, R20 single-core 2082) that prevents any frame drops attributable to CPU stalls, as evidenced by the stable minimum FPS values at Medium settings across all resolutions.